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The Other Scott Horton (no relation), international human rights lawyer and contributing editor at Harper’s magazine, discusses his article “Yoo, Latif, and the Rise of Secret Justice;” the Ninth Circuit Court’s legally indefensible ruling that John Yoo is immune to Jose Padilla’s torture lawsuit because, at the time, torture was a confused legal issue; “torture memo” co-author Jay Bybee’s convenient new gig as a Ninth Circuit Court judge; why Italian prosecutors wish John Yoo would resume vacationing in Italy; the DC Circuit Court’s steadfast belief in secret and self-contradicting government evidence against ten-year Guantanamo inmate Adnan Latif; and how Republican judges are making radical changes in the rule of law to get their buddies off the hook.

The Other Scott Horton is a Contributing Editor for Harper’s magazine where he writes the No Comment blog. A New York attorney known for his work in emerging markets and international law, especially human rights law and the law of armed conflict, Horton lectures at Columbia Law School. A life-long human rights advocate, Scott served as counsel to Andrei Sakharov and Elena Bonner, among other activists in the former Soviet Union.

He is a co-founder of the American University in Central Asia, and has been involved in some of the most significant foreign investment projects in the Central Eurasian region. Scott recently led a number of studies of abuse issues associated with the conduct of the war on terror for the New York City Bar Association, where he has chaired several committees, including, most recently, the Committee on International Law. He is also a member of the board of the National Institute of Military Justice, the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, the EurasiaGroup and the American Branch of the International Law Association.

Secret trials were always considered to be Kangaroo Courts by Americans during the cold war. It is obvious that we have adapted the standards of our darkest enemy, the Soviet Union. What do our leaders in torture believe, that the Soviet Union really was a nice place to live after all or that we have turned to the Devil? We can´t have it both ways!

Notwithstanding the plethora of international laws, conventions and treaties signed in the wake of WWII adjudicated to protect the innocent during a time of war and to which the US is signatory, this ruling granting immunity demonstrates the bankruptcy of international law. Only the weak are prosecuted, the powerful and their allies murder, torture, and disappear without conscience.

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